I Want To Be Your Guide – Chapter 2
Chapter 1. Imprinting
“Guide Yeo Jeongyun will now begin Guiding Esper Seo Hoonyoung.”
After completing his report according to the established procedure, Jeongyun turned around to find the man who had been waiting for Guiding eagerly reaching out his hand.
Jeongyun lightly avoided the man who was attempting unauthorized contact and demonstratively waved his pager.
“Physical contact during Guiding without the Guide’s permission is prohibited.”
“…I apologize.”
The man, regaining his senses after the sharp warning, apologized. Jeongyun put down his pager, maintained an appropriate distance from the man, and began non-contact Guiding.
Five minutes had passed since starting the Guiding. The effects should be showing by now, but there was no visible change in the pale face of the man.
‘As expected, the difference in rank can’t be overcome.’
Sighing, Jeongyun stopped the Guiding and extended his hand to the man. He had wanted to avoid touching Espers as much as possible, but Radiant Guiding wasn’t working, so he had no choice.
“Do you consent to Contact Guiding?”
“Yes, I consent.”
The man eagerly grabbed Jeongyun’s outstretched hand. Jeongyun frowned at the unpleasant sensation of energy draining through their joined hands.
Fortunately, the Guiding seemed to be proceeding smoothly, as the man’s dark complexion gradually regained its natural color. But as this happened, the initially light contact was becoming increasingly blatant.
‘I think we can stop now.’
Sensing danger, Jeongyun gently loosened his grip. When the man tried to pull back the retreating Jeongyun and ignore the safety distance, the alarm conveniently rang.
“Guiding complete.”
Jeongyun shook off the man’s hand without hesitation. The man, having regained his senses, hurriedly returned to his place.
After turning off the alarm, Jeongyun nodded to the fidgeting man.
“Good work.”
“…Good work.”
After exchanging the customary greeting, Jeongyun turned to check the list, while the man slowly got up from his seat, deliberately taking his time.
Jeongyun focused only on the list, habitually ignoring the lingering gaze he felt on his back. Only after the man left did he clutch his throbbing head.
“…Ah, I want to rest.”
Jeongyun muttered his habitual wish to rest as he sat down. He was about to take a breather after confirming that there were still five minutes until the next Esper arrived, when someone knocked on the door, perhaps an impatient Esper coming early.
Knock knock—
At the sound of knocking, Jeongyun straightened his back from the chair and let out a long sigh.
If only people understood that Guides need rest after Guiding, just as Espers need recovery after using their abilities.
“Come in.”
In the end, he had to welcome the Esper without a break.
* * *
Only after hanging up the <Break Time> sign did the stream of impatient Espers finally stop. Jeongyun, after thoroughly cleaning his hands with disinfectant, leaned deeply back in his chair.
Thanks to conducting Guiding sessions non-stop since morning, he had already crossed off more than half of the densely packed list. However, there were still many remaining.
He needed to finish within the scheduled time to leave work exactly on time. At this rate, he was cutting it close, and maintaining his punctual departure time was something he desperately wanted to preserve.
“I want to go home.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than someone knocked on the door. Knock knock. Annoyed at having his rest disturbed by someone who must have missed the <Break Time> sign, Jeongyun deliberately didn’t answer.
“Yeo Jeongyun.”
Wooyeon poked his head through the door, which had opened without permission. Jeongyun’s expression, which had hardened at the impolite intrusion, relaxed when he recognized the familiar face.
“What are you doing? Let’s go.”
“Now?”
“Yeah. I’ll buy you coffee, come out.”
Despite it being the same coffee from the break room they always drank, Wooyeon was brazenly acting as if he was treating Jeongyun to coffee at a fancy café, which made Jeongyun smile.
“Fine, let’s go.”
Pretending to give in, Jeongyun put on his coat that had been neatly placed on the chair and left the Guiding room. The stuffy air completely changed just by crossing that one door.
The Guides’ break room was simple: a few tables, a coffee vending machine, and a useless television that only played the same advertisements. That was all there was to the break room.
Settling in a corner, Jeongyun drank the iced americano that Wooyeon had gotten from the vending machine. Although the beans were cheap, the taste wasn’t that bad, making it Jeongyun’s signature drink that he casually enjoyed whenever he came to the break room.
“It’s hard. No matter how much we do, it never ends.”
Wooyeon complained, chewing on his plastic straw with a crunching sound.
He began pouring out his complaints about the headquarters like a broken record, saying that because of the Espers who kept coming to the Guiding room since the morning, he didn’t even have time to drink water.
“Instead of spending money on the Esper Hatred Project, they should pay more attention to Guide welfare. They should give us more money, then people would naturally apply. If not that, then they should change the law to make Guide testing mandatory.”
Unlike Wooyeon, who was passionately venting, Jeongyun only nodded. After Wooyeon had been giving his heated speech alone for quite some time, he asked Jeongyun, who, unlike himself, was keeping his mouth shut.
“Don’t you have any complaints about headquarters?”
“I have plenty.”
“Then why are you so quiet?”
“Because you’re saying it all for me.”
At Jeongyun’s words, Wooyeon made a pained sound and gulped down his americano where the ice had melted. Then, sprawled on the table, he kicked his legs wildly like a child throwing a tantrum.
“This is killing us. No matter how you look at it, they’re trying to kill us.”
While Guides belonging to teams or those who had dedicated partnerships with Espers had relatively flexible schedules, C-rank Guides like Jeongyun had to repeat a murderous schedule without a moment’s rest every day.
Even though they wanted to complain about headquarters, they couldn’t quit this lifetime job, so they couldn’t express their true feelings even in the annual surveys.
This is a vicious cycle. Jeongyun agreed with Wooyeon’s words time and again.
“How many do you have left today?”
“Ten, I think.”
“Wow, you’ve worked hard.”
“It’s my job.”
Jeongyun replied in an indifferent voice.
Guiding is accomplished through physical contact between Guide and Esper. While rank and matching rate greatly influence Guiding, the most important factor is the Guide’s emotional state.
That’s why Jeongyun tended to exclude emotions as much as possible during Guiding. Let’s just see it as a job without any personal feelings. That was the creed of Jeongyun, a Guide of three years.
“Won’t they ever change that?”
At Wooyeon’s grumbling, Jeongyun put down his empty paper cup and turned his gaze to the television. Looking at the endlessly repeating advertisement on the television, a smile that seemed ready to melt softly appeared on Jeongyun’s face for the first time today.
The face of a handsome man smiling prettily against a sparkling background filled his vision. [Government-affiliated Espers are guardians protecting the citizens.] A phrase that could be found on a third-rate superhero movie poster was emblazoned below the glowing man.
Looking at it, Jeongyun’s eyes sparkled with vitality. Like finding an oasis in a desert, Jeongyun’s gaze on the man in the television was fervent.
“Stop staring. It’ll wear out.”
“How many times have I even seen it?”
“I haven’t counted, but it must be over a thousand times.”
“It’s new every time I see it.”
“There’s nothing new about it.”
Despite Wooyeon’s sarcasm, Jeongyun’s gaze remained fixed on the screen. If the face of the man in the advertisement wore out every time Jeongyun looked at it, it would have already melted away without form.
That advertisement, which Jeongyun watched repeatedly to the point of memorizing every movement and line, was the result of the government-led ‘Esper Hatred Mitigation’ project.
It had been five years since the project began to inform people that the government-affiliated Espers at headquarters were different from the unregistered Espers who committed indiscriminate terrorism.
Although the results were minimal, the man in the advertisement, Choi Domin, became world-famous, transcending his identity as an Esper.
“That Choi Domin, he’s famous for having a bad personality. He’s also known for treating Guides like shit. If he were a celebrity, he would have already been embroiled in a personality controversy, but he should be thankful he’s an Esper. The government covers everything up for him.”
Wooyeon started cursing Domin, the man on the screen, pushing out his lips. Though Wooyeon’s dislike of Domin wasn’t new, Jeongyun frowned as the intensity kept crossing the line.
When he first became a Guide, there was a time when he was filled with hope that he might be able to provide Guiding for Domin.
However, the dream that had swollen like a balloon quickly deflated. Jeongyun, being C-rank, never got the chance to provide Guiding for Domin.
Now, after being a Guide for three years, he had long abandoned such foolish expectations, but he still occasionally imagined. If the opportunity to give Guiding to Domin came, his heart might stop and he might die.
“Let’s go back now.”
Although he had only seen it ten times so far, Wooyeon urged Jeongyun, saying that a lot of time had passed. Disappointed that he never got tired of seeing it every day, Jeongyun rose from his seat with his head bowed.
Patting his wrinkled clothes, he turned his back to the screen. Suppressing the urge to keep looking back, Jeongyun moved with heavy steps.
It was time to return to the stifling Guiding room.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
